328: What Comes After Peak Smartphone?

Worldwide smartphone shipments dropped for the first time. That means we’re about it hit, if we haven’t already, the peak smartphone era. What that means, and what gets us excited, is it’s the setup for the NEXT BIG THING. In this show we talk about possible next big things and implications or the smartphone industry. Show notes are below.

Peak Smartphone Show Notes

Several major factors caused the market shrinkage, said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “First, upgrades from feature phones to smartphones have slowed right down due to a lack of quality ‘ultra-low-cost’ smartphones and users preferring to buy quality feature phones.“Second, replacement smartphone users are choosing quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle of smartphones. Moreover, while demand for high quality, 4G connectivity and better camera features remained strong, high expectations and few incremental benefits during replacement weakened smartphone sales,” Gupta added.